1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to seat slide devices for motor vehicles and more particularly to the seat slide devices of a type that has an improved lock mechanism is compact in construction.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, various seat slide devices have been proposed and put into practical use particularly in the field of wheeled motor vehicles. Some of them are of a type that has a lock mechanism that is compactly installed between a lower rail that is secured to a vehicle floor and an upper rail that slides on and along the lower rail and mounts thereon a seat. Seat slide devices of such type are shown in Japanese Laid-open Patent Application (Tokkaihei) 10-309965 and Japanese Laid-open Patent Application 2002-154356. However, due to their inherent construction, the seat slide devices of the publications fail to provide the makers and users with a satisfaction. That is, some of them show a poor locking performance of the lock mechanism and some of them need a troublesome and thus time-consumed assembling work for assembling the seat slide device. Furthermore, some of them fail to provide a satisfied compact construction, and some of them are highly costly.